Is It Time to End the War on Drugs? - King County Bar Association

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The Failure of D.A.R.E.The most widely implemented and well-known school-based “prevention” programis <strong>the</strong> Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program, which consists of a series oflectures by uniformed police officers <strong>to</strong> 5 th graders. The program focuses on informationabout <strong>the</strong> negative effects of drugs and on developing certain attitudes and values in makinga moral commitment not <strong>to</strong> use drugs. The overall thrust of D.A.R.E. has been compared <strong>to</strong><strong>the</strong> type of dogmatic indoctrination common in prevention programs from decades past, as<strong>the</strong> police use scare tactics in asking: “Do you know what drugs will do <strong>to</strong> you even if youmess around with <strong>the</strong>m just once?” and “Do you know you must commit yourself <strong>to</strong> nevertrying <strong>the</strong>m?” 78The D.A.R.E. program has a contract with about 80 percent of <strong>the</strong> nation’s schooldistricts. With multiple sources of revenue, including private contributions, governmentgrants, special events and license royalties, D.A.R.E. has become a lucrative enterprise withits corporate officers earning six-figure salaries. With friends in Congress, <strong>the</strong> D.A.R.E.program is <strong>the</strong> only drug education program <strong>to</strong> receive non-competitive grants from <strong>the</strong>government, through special earmarks in federal appropriations bills. National estimates of<strong>the</strong> annual cost of <strong>the</strong> D.A.R.E. program are about $1 billion. 79Despite <strong>the</strong> apparent popularity of <strong>the</strong> D.A.R.E. program, recent results fromdisinterested and objective evaluations have demonstrated that D.A.R.E. has not reduceddrug use. 80 Fur<strong>the</strong>r, in some cases <strong>the</strong> D.A.R.E. program has been linked <strong>to</strong> increased druguse, particularly among suburban youth. 81 School administra<strong>to</strong>rs, faced with a wide varietyof federally-supported “prevention” programs, have often chosen <strong>the</strong> most aggressivelymarketed package, as D.A.R.E. has relieved schools of having <strong>to</strong> train teachers or administer<strong>the</strong> program. 82 However, using police officers has divorced <strong>the</strong> program’s message fromstudents’ daily learning, so <strong>the</strong> material has not been reinforced in regular classes, and in anyevent, <strong>the</strong> program’s “just say no” message has not been persuasive. 83In response <strong>to</strong> criticism, D.A.R.E. officials are now planning a different approach. <strong>It</strong>remains <strong>to</strong> be seen whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> re-engineering of D.A.R.E. will render it any more effective,as it is being modeled after <strong>the</strong> Life Skills Training program (briefly reviewed in AppendixA of this report), whose own effectiveness has recently been partly discredited. 84Searching for Effective Prevention ProgramsSupportive families and communities are essential <strong>to</strong> helping children develop <strong>the</strong>skills needed <strong>to</strong> resist or postpone using drugs. 85 As a matter of social policy, however,investment in school-based programs that reinforce those necessary social skills is animportant complement. The challenge is <strong>to</strong> identify those programs that have been proveneffective over <strong>the</strong> long term in reducing drug abuse. Appendix A of this report provides abrief review of some of <strong>the</strong> nation’s noteworthy prevention programs, including: <strong>the</strong> ChildDevelopment Project, developed in Oakland, California; <strong>the</strong> STAR Project, initiated inKansas City; Project ALERT, developed at <strong>the</strong> RAND Corporation; and <strong>the</strong> widelyimplementedLife Skills Training Program.37
Prevention strategies have been designed <strong>to</strong> address varying levels of risk, and <strong>the</strong>“dose” of intervention needed depends on <strong>the</strong> constellation of risk and protective fac<strong>to</strong>rspresent in each situation. Universal programs target all youth without identifying those atparticularly high levels of risk. Selective programs aim interventions at those youth who aredeemed more vulnerable <strong>to</strong> drug abuse because of personal, family and community riskfac<strong>to</strong>rs. Indicated programs are intensive efforts aimed at youth already abusing drugs andexhibiting o<strong>the</strong>r problem behaviors. 86Evaluation of school-based drug education programs has generally shown that noninteractive,lecture-oriented programs that stress drug knowledge and/or focus on buildingself-esteem have not effectively prevented or reduced alcohol and o<strong>the</strong>r drug use by youth. 87Such non-interactive programs, including D.A.R.E., have not provided a means for students<strong>to</strong> acquire “refusal” skills, nor have <strong>the</strong>y given students adequate opportunities <strong>to</strong> consider<strong>the</strong> costs and benefits of drug use <strong>to</strong> enable <strong>the</strong>m <strong>to</strong> make rationally-informed decisionsabout drug use. 88School-based drug education programs that are interactive and have a discussionbasedformat have been shown <strong>to</strong> be a somewhat more effective prevention strategy. Thelatest research indicates that students respond more favorably <strong>to</strong> interactive programs thatplace mental health clinicians or students’ peers as discussion leaders, ra<strong>the</strong>r than policeofficers or teachers without special training. 89 This finding presents a valuable opportunityfor schools, because although <strong>the</strong> cost of a mental health clinician in every school would besubstantial, <strong>the</strong> use of peer leaders instead could be a cost-effective way <strong>to</strong> increase programeffectiveness. 90Interactive programs specifically targeting <strong>to</strong>bacco have been particularly effective,where youth see <strong>the</strong> message of lifetime abstinence as more reasonable than in <strong>the</strong> case ofalcohol, where abstinence is urged only until <strong>the</strong> legal age is reached. The message ofcomplete lifetime abstinence from <strong>to</strong>bacco is lost in a generalized prevention programdealing with <strong>the</strong> use of all substances; hence <strong>the</strong> need <strong>to</strong> develop and implement <strong>to</strong>baccoonlyprevention programs. 91 Based on this finding, wide implementation of <strong>to</strong>bacco-onlyprevention programs in <strong>the</strong> schools would be a wise public investment.Finding <strong>the</strong> Key ElementsDespite <strong>the</strong> mixed findings from <strong>the</strong> evaluation of drug education programs, researchhas identified important features of a school-based substance abuse prevention strategy: 92• Help students recognize internal pressures, like anxiety and stress,and external pressures, like peer attitudes and advertising, thatinfluence <strong>the</strong>m <strong>to</strong> use alcohol , <strong>to</strong>bacco and o<strong>the</strong>r drugs;• Help students develop personal, social and refusal skills <strong>to</strong> resist<strong>the</strong>se pressures;38
Page 7: KING COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATIONDRUG POL
Page 10 and 11: KING COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATIONDRUG POL
Page 12 and 13: IntroductionThe King County Bar Ass
Page 14: Conclusions and RecommendationsEFFE
Page 17 and 18: DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT (cont.)sym
Page 19 and 20: 11. Opiate-replacement the<
Page 21 and 22: DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT (cont.)17.
Page 23 and 24: Assessing the Effe
Page 25 and 26: Current Drug Policy Reforms• Citi
Page 27 and 28: ___________________________________
Page 29 and 30: Formal research studies of adolesce
Page 31 and 32: methodological difficulties in esti
Page 33 and 34: Risk Factors and P
Page 35 and 36: Protective Factors
Page 37: 3. The Promise and Perils of Drug A
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Page 45 and 46: SECTION IIDRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT:
Page 47 and 48: 2. Society is justified in offering
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Page 53 and 54: “11. Possible drug use during tre
Page 55 and 56: There are currently drug courts in
Page 57 and 58: “become almost illusory.” <stro
Page 59 and 60: ___________________________________
Page 61 and 62: levels” for some drug offenses 16
Page 63 and 64: treatment, drug testing and o<stron
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Page 67 and 68: and especially considering
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Page 73 and 74: The federal criminal justice system
Page 75 and 76: A core principle of Washing
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Page 79 and 80: Damaging Collateral Effects of <str
Page 81 and 82: have been so overwhelmed with drug
Page 83 and 84: creates a conflict of interest that
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Page 87 and 88: convicted.” 351 Proposition 36 al
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non-violent offenders facing length
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is still supervised by the<
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emedies may be appropriate, and <st
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___________________________________
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have shown less promise, especially
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Unique Opportunities in Washing<str
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State of Washingto
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This program provides to</s
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way.”9 According to</stro
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Best states: “ They are basically
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4, pp. 590-593, who state that <str
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109 For a summary of the</s
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Profile report is available on line
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to anothe<
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program of drug treatment that begi
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237 No deaths have ever been record
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290 A special exception to<
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Following the pass
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Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol.
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Is It Time to End the War on Drugs? - King County Bar Association

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